Market Opportunities in The Five Central Asian Countries From The Perspective Of Sewing Industry

On May 18th, the China-Central Asia summit was held in Xi'an, which comprehensively planned the direction of China-Central Asia cooperation.

The five Central Asian countries, including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, are located at the juncture of the Eurasian continent and are the transportation hubs that connect the Eurasian continent. 31 years ago, China established diplomatic relations with Central Asian countries and opened the door for bilateral exchanges and cooperation.

On the evening of May 17th, CCTV's "Focus Interview" program interpreted the historical, landmark, and breakthrough achievements of the past ten years of joint construction of the "Belt and Road" initiative between China and the five Central Asian countries, as well as the future development trend. The program showed pictures of the China-Europe freight trains departing from Xi'an, with subtitles showing that the train carries Chinese-made industrial sewing machines and other products.

In recent years, the sewing market in the Central Asian region has been relatively good, and the local garment industry is transforming from domestic demand to export-oriented. Especially in Uzbekistan, which has natural advantages in cotton planting and spinning, its good cotton resources have attracted European clothing manufacturing companies such as Turkey to invest in factories, and the government of Uzbekistan has provided great support to the textile and apparel industry. According to the "2019-2020 Development Report of China's Sewing Machinery Industry" released by the China Sewing Machinery Association, in 2019, China's sewing machinery industry accumulated exports of US$1.659 billion to the "Belt and Road" markets, a year-on-year increase of 7.75%, accounting for 66.76% of the industry's export share, an increase of 4.02 percentage points over the previous year. Exports to Uzbekistan increased by 16.43%. According to the "2021-2022 Development Report of China's Sewing Machinery Industry", in 2021, China's export of sewing machinery products to countries along the " China's Belt and Road Initiative" reached a high of US$1.967 billion, a year-on-year increase of 43.63%, accounting for 62.53% of the industry's export share, an increase of 4.57 percentage points over the same period last year. Exports to Uzbekistan increased by 87.74%.

Data shows that countries and regions along the " China's Belt and Road Initiative", including the five Central Asian countries, have become important growth poles for the development of China's sewing machinery industry's foreign trade business.